St. Urho's is one of the best pubs in Finland. It is located in the mid Helsinki, next to the Parliament House and Finlandia Hall. The musicians of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra find their way to St. Urho's after the concert. The Hall is on the other side of the main street of Helsinki.
As the reputation of St. Urho's is very good and it has introduced beers brewed by small Finnish breweries, the selection of sahtis should be better. One is not enough. Finlandia Sahti belongs to St. Urho's selection (altogether about 80 beers). It has won the competition of the "Beer of the Year" twice (Helsinki Beer Festival 1999 and 2003). Anyhow, the alternatives are needed. Finlandia Sahti is not the one and the only truth. It is not the "Pravda" of the sahtis.
There are even two Finlandia Sahtis: "regular" and strong. Which one the St. Urho's has - you have to ask. Wish they had both! And wish they had all sahtis that exists. It would not be many though.
Huvila, which is a small brewery in Savonlinna, brews Huvila Sahti. I try find and taste it as soon as possible! Maybe St. Urho's will have it in the "Sahti week" in the spring.
http://www.botta.fi/ST-URHO-S-PUB.14.0.html?&L=1
http://web.eduskunta.fi/Resource.phx/parliament/aboutparliament/presentation/parliamenthouse.htx
http://www.finlandiatalo.fi/en
http://www.finlandiatalo.fi/en/events/8907.html
http://www.finlandiasahti.fi/
http://www.panimoravintolahuvila.fi/oluttehdas/sahti_e.html
sunnuntai 20. tammikuuta 2008
lauantai 12. tammikuuta 2008
SAHTI-klubi - Sahti Club
Sahti-Klubi (Sahti Club) exist!
This week I got an e-mail where I was told about Sahti Club. The club operates at least in Helsinki. Special events and campaigns (like "sahti week"s) are made.
I was warmly welcomed to Sahti Club. Thank you. One day I'll be there. Great to have sahti mates.
About campaigns. What about a campaign like CAMRA? CAmpaing for Real Ale.
http://www.camra.org.uk/
Nowadays it is lot easier to find rale ale than sahti in Helsinki!
This week I got an e-mail where I was told about Sahti Club. The club operates at least in Helsinki. Special events and campaigns (like "sahti week"s) are made.
I was warmly welcomed to Sahti Club. Thank you. One day I'll be there. Great to have sahti mates.
About campaigns. What about a campaign like CAMRA? CAmpaing for Real Ale.
http://www.camra.org.uk/
Nowadays it is lot easier to find rale ale than sahti in Helsinki!
Christmas Sahti - simply glorious!
Christmas without sahti would be deficient. Sahti belongs to Christmas dinner as well as a pork, or turkey in England. At least in our family.
As Christmas is one of the greatest feast in the whole year, the sahti is made with special care and love.
This year I was lucky. I had four different sahtis. Two were made with hot stones in Hollola. One of the sahtis was made in Kuhmoinen (Middle Finland) in a pot. The fourth was commericially sold in Sysmä (Middle Finland) but not via Alko. It was fermentated at home.
All of these sahtis were either good or very good. Even the commercial one was surprisingly competing with home made sahtis. It is rare. The person who had fermentated the commercial sahti is though sahti expert himself.
Hollola: colour was pretty dark. Taste was full and there was smoke in the odour. Sahti was clear and made as well as it is possible.
Kuhmoinen: colour was very light. In comparison to the lightness of the colour the taste was heavy. Tasty. The brewer told that this sahti was made quickly. He had started the fermentation in higher temperature as usually used. This makes sahti production faster but also the storage time gets shorter. In Christmas time it is not a problem as people gets together and sahti is offered.
Sysmä: colour was very dark, maybe one of the ingredients was rye but the story doesn't tell... The taste was just super. I wish all the best for "Tiinan sahti" - the brewer.
I heard that "Tiinan Sahti" was selling sahti in Sysmä before Chrismas and many, many people bought it. The instructions how to do the fermentation right was given to the clients. In many families this sahti made The Christmas possible.
I also heard that Alko in Sysmä does not have sahti in a selection. Quite surpring as Sysmä is famous of its sahti culture. Obviously local people would buy it, and visitors too. Sysmä doubles its population (5000 inhabitants) in summertime as there is lot of summer cottages. This maybe tells the situation of sahti culture in Sysmä, and in Finland. Sad. But, not the end of the story!
As Christmas is one of the greatest feast in the whole year, the sahti is made with special care and love.
This year I was lucky. I had four different sahtis. Two were made with hot stones in Hollola. One of the sahtis was made in Kuhmoinen (Middle Finland) in a pot. The fourth was commericially sold in Sysmä (Middle Finland) but not via Alko. It was fermentated at home.
All of these sahtis were either good or very good. Even the commercial one was surprisingly competing with home made sahtis. It is rare. The person who had fermentated the commercial sahti is though sahti expert himself.
Hollola: colour was pretty dark. Taste was full and there was smoke in the odour. Sahti was clear and made as well as it is possible.
Kuhmoinen: colour was very light. In comparison to the lightness of the colour the taste was heavy. Tasty. The brewer told that this sahti was made quickly. He had started the fermentation in higher temperature as usually used. This makes sahti production faster but also the storage time gets shorter. In Christmas time it is not a problem as people gets together and sahti is offered.
Sysmä: colour was very dark, maybe one of the ingredients was rye but the story doesn't tell... The taste was just super. I wish all the best for "Tiinan sahti" - the brewer.
I heard that "Tiinan Sahti" was selling sahti in Sysmä before Chrismas and many, many people bought it. The instructions how to do the fermentation right was given to the clients. In many families this sahti made The Christmas possible.
I also heard that Alko in Sysmä does not have sahti in a selection. Quite surpring as Sysmä is famous of its sahti culture. Obviously local people would buy it, and visitors too. Sysmä doubles its population (5000 inhabitants) in summertime as there is lot of summer cottages. This maybe tells the situation of sahti culture in Sysmä, and in Finland. Sad. But, not the end of the story!
keskiviikko 2. tammikuuta 2008
Welcome to sahti blog
Cheers! Sahti is one of the oldest beers in the world. It comes from Finland and it is still brewed, unfortunately only in a small scale. It is not easy to find sahti even in Finland. I wonder if you can enjoy any sahti out of Finland.
Luckily, in some Alkos (liquor stores in Finland) and in some pubs you can buy sahti. And if you are lucky and know people who makes sahti by themselves you probably will have a really good sahti.
Briefly about sahti
Sahti is made of water (high quality in Finland), barley and yeast. Sometimes also rye and/or hop. When brewing traditionally either junipers or straw are used.
Sahti is so called fresh beer. Sahti has to be stored in low temperature (in a fridge temperature)and it will have a high quality only for a month or so. Before drinking the bottle should not be shaked because of the yeast in the bottom of the bottle.
There is few commercial sahti brewers in Finland: Lammin sahti, Joutsan sahti and Finlandia sahti. Their products are sold via Alko, the official liquor store in Finland (monopoly).
Some firms (more than three) brew sahti and sell it legally too. In this case the client has to add the yeast and fermentate the sahti. In other words he/she has to do the last period of the brewing by him-/herself. In this period the alcohol appears to sahti. Sometimes this is too difficult.
The Finnish strict alcohol legistation is blamed to be nearly a sahti killer. I personnally only wish it wasn't so complicated to find sahti. And wish there was more alternatives even for sahtis, too.
Some people knows how to make sahti and brew it by themselves, usually at home (in sauna). It takes for years to learn to do sahti properly. Commonly the know-how runs in families.
In general, there is two ways how to do sahti. It can be done in a large pot and heated there or it can be ripen by using hot stones. At the moment there is one sahti brewer - Hollolan hirvi - which commercially use the stone method. In my family the stone method has been the only method for generations.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Hopefully you enjoy your sahti!
P.S. Comments, ideas etc. are warmly welcomed.
Luckily, in some Alkos (liquor stores in Finland) and in some pubs you can buy sahti. And if you are lucky and know people who makes sahti by themselves you probably will have a really good sahti.
Briefly about sahti
Sahti is made of water (high quality in Finland), barley and yeast. Sometimes also rye and/or hop. When brewing traditionally either junipers or straw are used.
Sahti is so called fresh beer. Sahti has to be stored in low temperature (in a fridge temperature)and it will have a high quality only for a month or so. Before drinking the bottle should not be shaked because of the yeast in the bottom of the bottle.
There is few commercial sahti brewers in Finland: Lammin sahti, Joutsan sahti and Finlandia sahti. Their products are sold via Alko, the official liquor store in Finland (monopoly).
Some firms (more than three) brew sahti and sell it legally too. In this case the client has to add the yeast and fermentate the sahti. In other words he/she has to do the last period of the brewing by him-/herself. In this period the alcohol appears to sahti. Sometimes this is too difficult.
The Finnish strict alcohol legistation is blamed to be nearly a sahti killer. I personnally only wish it wasn't so complicated to find sahti. And wish there was more alternatives even for sahtis, too.
Some people knows how to make sahti and brew it by themselves, usually at home (in sauna). It takes for years to learn to do sahti properly. Commonly the know-how runs in families.
In general, there is two ways how to do sahti. It can be done in a large pot and heated there or it can be ripen by using hot stones. At the moment there is one sahti brewer - Hollolan hirvi - which commercially use the stone method. In my family the stone method has been the only method for generations.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Hopefully you enjoy your sahti!
P.S. Comments, ideas etc. are warmly welcomed.
Tilaa:
Blogitekstit (Atom)
